According to a report in the Boston Globe, about American Enterprise Institute scholar Charles Murray’s recent speech at Harvard, the notable economist was recently disinvited from an event at Massachusetts’ Assumption College, after the school received threats of violence from Antifa.
Murray routinely faces backlash from “progressive” student groups for his research on developing economies, some of which leftists claim are evidence of Murray’s “white supremacy” — an interpretation Murray calls “uninformed” (though his speech to Harvard went off without incident).
But in this case, the American Enterprise Institute says, Assumption administration wasn’t so much concerned with Murray’s critical reception, but with an outside threat they received from black-clad “anti-fascists.”
“Spokespeople for both the American Enterprise Institute and Assumption College said the issue was not about Mr. Murray’s research … but over the small school’s ability to assure student and community safety given concerns expressed by state, local and campus law enforcement over outside groups that might attempt to disrupt the event and each other,” a local paper reported.
Last year, Middlebury College, also a small school in Massachusetts, erupted in violence during an event that featured Charles Murray. Students stormed into Murray’s speech, forced him off the stage, and sent the scholar and a Middlebury faculty member fleeing for safety. The faculty member was injured. The students involved were punished, but none were expelled.
Assumption, believing it couldn’t handle such a disruption, cowed to threats and cancelled the event altogether, proving that Antifa doesn’t even need to gear up to shut down speech.